Full-Time Fighter: Sean Salmon reinstated, fighting for title tonight

Finally, after 10 months, unexpected delays, enormous expense, sleepless nights and alienating myself from family and friends, the nightmare with the California State Athletic Commission is over.

That being said, I will be doing a column early next week to detail everything that went down. But the most important part is that it’s all over. I’ve been cleared to fight and have been fully reinstated.

However, I do have to touch on California one more time. MMAAgents.com is amazing, and I am not just saying that because it’s my agency. Everyone in that office Ken (“The Pav”) Pavia, Nate Broadnax, Julian Grugario and the new guys, Danny and Tony, went far and above my expectations to help get this cleared up. They never once let me believe that I was an inconvience in any way (believe me, I was) — calling, texting and emailing serveral times a day. And when I was in town, I stayed at their house, they drove me everywhere, and made sure I was fed, watered and training. MMAAgents.com couldn’t fire me if they tried.
Like I said, though, I will be detailing all of that next week.

Up next — and by up next, I mean tonight — I will be fighting in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, for the NAAFS (www.naafs.tv) middleweight belt.
I take on reigning champion Mitch Whitesel.

NAAFS is one of the biggest and best regional shows, and it’s shown on tape delay on Sports Time Ohio (basic cable in Ohio, but part of the DISH Network extended sports package). Greg Kalikas and his crew do a great job of promoting the fights and taking care of the fighters.

This is not a fight that I just agreed to last second. I knew three months ago that I was going to be coming off California’s suspended list, so I have been training hard for the past two months — not to mention the eight months before that I was on suspension and working to improve my skill set. Actually, the past 10 months is the first time in my career that I have actually had coaches and a proper training camp for a fight. I have been training at Relson Gracie’s school in Westerville, Ohio, with head trainers Robin Geisler and Jason Gulbranson, as well as my most consistent training partners Marc Cofer (big-time up-and-comer) and Brandon Willis (another fighter with a ton of potential).

I have been working extremely hard on my kickboxing, and I’ve been getting further instruction in Brazilian jiu jitsu. Additionally, I’ve been under 200 pounds for the last month leading into this fight. (It turns out that I can actually be a lean 185-pounder with the proper training, lifting and nutrition).

I am very excited for this fight. I don’t believe that I have ever been this well prepared for a competition. That being said, I understand that all that training means nothing if I don’t perform to my abilities, which has been a problem in some of my fights.

Like I said, though, this is just going to be a quick update. Much more will follow in the next couple of weeks.

Start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word of your loss…

Sean Salmon (14-5 MMA) is an MMAjunkie.com columnist who occasionally pens his Full-Time Fighter column for the site. The column is designed to give readers a behind-the-scenes look at a professional fighter’s career and the ups and downs of the profession. If you have a question for Salmon, leave it in the comments section of the post. He answers all respectful queries.